Telia ended the third quarter with 835,000 subscribers to its SVOD services.
This, according to the company in its latest set of results, was 29.1% more than the 647,000 total posted a year earlier.
It adds that its TV & Media unit continued to strengthen its market position through strong development for digital consumption and share of viewing on linear TV in the quarter. For digital consumption the time spent on TV4 Play increased by 58% compared to the corresponding quarter last year. And at the same time the linear performance with regards to commercial share of viewing remained strong in both Sweden and Finland.
Furthermore, The UEFA Champions League was launched in the quarter, exclusively for direct customers of C More as well as Telia TV customers. Combining this with other strong sport content has resulted in a growth of almost 40% in the number of direct C More customers with a sports package.
Looking more generally at Telia’s TV operations across Scandinavia and the Baltics, it ended Q3 with 975,000 subscribers in Sweden, or 6.1% more than a year earlier, gaining 26,000 in the quarter. In Finland, the total stood at 550,000 (-4.2%), with the figure actually falling by 60,000 in the quarter due to a transfer of around 60,000 subscriptions to the TV and Media unit. In Norway, the number of TV subscriptions was 477,000 (+1.3%), with the total remaining unchanged in Q3, and in Denmark 26,000 (-16.1%) and also unchanged in Q3.
Meanwhile, in the Baltics Lithuania recorded 254,000 TV subscribers (+1.2%, though unchanged in the quarter) and Estonia 207,000 (-1%, and also unchanged).
Telia as a whole had net sales of SEK21,271 million (€2,122.4 million) in Q3, down 1.2% on the same period last year. Adjusted EBITDA was SEK7,806 million (-4.9%) and net income SEK1,643 million (-36.1%).
